MOUNT GILEAD — With all of the earmarks of a heavyweight bout, the Fredericktown Freddies faced off against the Mount Gilead Indians, both sporting 4-0 records and undefeated in the Knox Morrow Athletic Conference.
The home team landed what turned out to be the knockout blow, scoring twice in 65 seconds near the end of the first half to take a 28-7 lead into the locker room at halftime, en route to a 41-7 drubbing of the Freddies.
Mount Gilead drew first blood with a touchdown, but failed to convert the two-point attempt for a 6-0 lead. With two minutes remaining in the opening stanza, senior quarterback Blake Sipes hit Gavin Toombs for a touchdown, after securing the extra point, Fredericktown owned a 7-6 lead at the end of the first 12 minutes.
Wheels come off
After the first quarter lead evaporated, the visitors could not put together a sustained run. Freddies coach Scott Spitler said that he had pinpointed one of the areas where the battle was lost.
“Make no bones about it, we didn’t do a good job in the trenches tonight on both sides of the ball,” Spitler said.
“In the first four weeks we have lost five two-way starters, one of them being Brody David, who is a big playmaker for us.”
Just before halftime, the Indians were able to take a fumble 45 yards to paydirt to build their largest lead of the game.
Surprising outcome
One of those a bit surprised at the margin of victory was Indians coach Mike Reid.
“I did not expect such a lopsided score, they have a lot of weapons,” Reid said. “I did not feel comfortable until our last score.
“I have so much respect for Coach Spitler and I know they are going to play hard every night.”
Spitler returned the compliment.
“(The Indians) were men tonight, they got off the ball and I have so much respect for Coach Reid,” Spitler said.
Reid said that he makes sure his players practice the way they will play the game.
“We work hard on keeping everything together once we get tired, so we keep some of the workouts until the end of practice.”
Moving on
Spitler said that this loss does not define his team.
“We learned a lot about ourselves tonight and we are not going to let one bad night turn into two bad nights and snowball from there,” the coach said.
Next Friday, the Freddies will visit Northmor, while the Indians try to remain perfect, hosting East Knox.